Last Thursday January 29th, at Impact Hub Madrid, took place the official presentation in Spain of Ecopreneur.EU, the European Network of Green Business committed to fostering the Green Economy in the EU; as well as of Greenbiz, its node in Spain, which we had already featured on a previous post. After the presentation of this pan-European organization -a network of networks that encompasses several hundred companies (150 members in Germany alone)- by its co-founders from Germany, Austria and France, we moved onto greenbiz, analyzing our role in boosting green business, innovation and research, acting as a network and bridge among Spanish green start-ups and eco-entrepreneurs, and our European partners and leading corporations in the sector. We set ourselves to the task of providing answers to the pressing environmental challenges of our times, from the perspective of business solutions that are financially viable and socially empowering.

The event carried on with an enriching debate where all participants discussed about the state of the art of the Green Economy in the various countries from the network, and the main difficulties that green start-ups and eco-entrepreneurs face in their development. The conversation engaged reached high levels of dynamism and participation from the audience, even extending over to the lunch break.

Our energies replenished thanks to the delicious ecological catering served by “Somos Pan y Agua”, we returned to the room for the afternoon session, where a selection of Spanish green start-ups presented their projects, cited the most daunting barriers they had encountered, announced their medium-to-long term perspectives, and shared the environmental and social value their businesses pursue. Concretely speaking, the start-ups involved were: 1) Smileat (ecological production); 2) La Colmena que dice sí (distribution of ecological and local food); 3) El Cartonista (reuse and recycling); 4) Idika Moda (ethical and sustainable fashion); 5) EcoEko (conscious and ecological cosmetics); and 6) Efficatia (energy efficiency). Moreover, we had the pleasure to have Blyss Chocolate and Sustainerationfrom Germany, joining us over Skype.

Next, the attendants were given the opportunity to address the start-ups’ founders in a vivid Q&A round. A hands-on workshop followed in which we brainstormed and made progress on these core lines of work: 1) Main barriers identified, linking with the start-ups’ contribution from the previous session, but also adding to the mix the valuable inputs, points of view and from the rest of the participants; 2) Opportunities detected to undertake businesses within the Green Economy, certainly an economic sector with a bright future, and present, ahead, given its vast potential for green job creation, social cohesion and territorial structuring; and lastly 3) Common strategies to explore, so as to empower the green companies from the network, greening the EU’s economy along the way. Teams of 4-5 members, aided by post-it-based visualization techniques, executed the practical working methodology explained to perfection; with speakers representing each of them sharing the outcome with the whole group and wrapping up the productive day to conclude. In the coming days, building on the workshop’s multiple findings, greenbiz we will be drafting and publishing a final report, for the world to see the change that is coming 😉